


Childlike Curiosity

by kingsqueen



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Child Reader, Gen, Injury, Mention of a mother, POV Second Person, Parent-Child Relationship, Reader-Insert, Request Fill, but I didn’t describe or name her, gender neutral reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 10:14:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16060994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingsqueen/pseuds/kingsqueen
Summary: You’re forbidden from going into the woods, but your curiosity gets the better of you.______For a request I received on Tumblr.





	Childlike Curiosity

**Author's Note:**

> _“Request: Can you do a Legolas x daughter, she comes home bleeding from the woods and has to lie to her parents because they forbid her from going in the Mirkwood woods?”_
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> I made it gender neutral. Hope you enjoy!

Your parents had forbidden you from going out into the woods.

So, of course, that’s exactly what you were doing. 

You were very familiar with the palace grounds by now, and you often walked around where the commoners lived. The kingdom felt so small, you desperately needed new territory to explore. You couldn’t help your curiosity! There was a whole world outside of Mirkwood, all you needed was to get through that forest.

Time and time again, you were caught before you ran into the woods. Your father would gather you into his arms and lecture you about the dangers of the forest until you got home. It did little to dissuade you and before you knew it, you were back where you left off.

Only this time, you didn’t get caught. 

With a look of pure excitement, you ran into the dense woods. You climbed a tree, then jumped from branch to branch. It was dark by the time you ran out of breath. 

Taking a seat on a rather high branch, you settled on swinging your legs until you were ready to continue. 

It was then that you spotted a thick white string on the branch right next to yours. Your eyes followed the silk string, observing as it connected to others like it, forming an intricate pattern. It was a spider-web. You were sitting right next to a spider-web. 

With a yelp, you jumped off the branch and landed horribly on the floor. You hadn’t even attempted to climb down, so great was your panic. Your father’s stories about spiders sprung into your mind. Focusing on escape, you didn’t wait to see a spider before running as fast as your little legs could carry you.

It was only when your adrenaline died down that you noticed the pain in your left arm. Your skin had been torn, causing blood to run down your arm in rivulets. It seemed that you had landed on the limb when you jumped off that tree.

A fall like that would have terribly injured a human child. You weren’t human though, so your elven resilience had only allowed it to be a flesh wound. This didn’t stop the tears from pricking at your eyes. 

You wanted your parents very badly, so you picked up your pace and ran home.

-

The entire palace was in a panic. 

It had taken half an hour for your mother to realize that you were missing. Soon enough, a stricken Legolas was barking orders for guards to be on the lookout. 

He grabbed his weapons and was out of the palace with record-breaking speed. The search went on for two hours and Legolas’ panic had settled into a cold dread. 

He had just finished looking all over town when he spotted a child running toward him. 

Letting out a cry of relief, he ran to you and fell to his knees. He reached out to embrace you, but you backed away.

The worried expression he had worn for so many hours formed on his face once more. 

“Where have you been? We were so worried, what is wrong?” 

“Nothing is wrong, _ada_ , sorry for worrying you,” you lied.

But your father wasn’t dumb. He knew his child better than he knew himself. You looked disheveled and had dirt on your knees. Legolas didn’t miss the way you held your arm behind your back. 

“Let me see your hand,” he said, holding out his own for you to place it in. 

You gave him your right hand.  
If the situation was less serious, he would have laughed. 

“No, _penneth_ , the other one.”

As you held out your injured arm, you couldn’t fight back the tears any longer. Your face crumpled and you threw yourself into your father’s arms, burying your face in his chest.

He embraced his sobbing elfling, careful not to jostle your arm, and kissed the crown of your head. Legolas rocked back and forth and cooed to you until the crying stopped.

“Will you tell me what happened?”

And you told him everything. From the web and how frightened you were, to falling out of the tree, and to trudging home. You felt his arms tighten and heard him thank the Valar under his breath. It could have been so much worse, you were lucky that the most you had encountered was a web.

You sniffled, “I won’t leave the palace anymore, I promise.”

He sighed. It wasn’t fair to keep you so sheltered. Legolas had hated it when his father kept a tight grip on him. Rather than keeping him safe, it had only taught him how to be secretive and sneak past authority. Just look where it had gotten you. If he had only accompanied you when you wanted to explore, your curiosity would have been sated and the crisis avoided. 

Legolas gathered you into his arms and carried you home, but this time he spoke of taking you on adventures and visits to other kingdoms. You were always safe when you were with him, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Ada - daddy  
> Penneth - young one


End file.
